How to Save a Life Songfic
by camtrtl
Summary: Al's got his body back, but Ed's stuck with his automail. He's going to go try to get his limbs back. Can Winry convince them to stay? Rated T for safety, first fic!


**A/N: My first fic! Please R&R, and be as critical as possible! Always want to improve my writing =)**

**Enjoy (hopefully!)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, and never will =(**

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Step one, you say we need to talk, he walks_

_You say sit down it's just a talk_

_He smiles politely, back at you_

_You stare politely, right on through_

Winry was exhausted. Ed and Al had finally restored Al's body, but Ed wasn't able to replace his automail with flesh, and, on top of that, he had crushed his arm in the process. She had been up for three nights in a row working on a new arm, and she had finally finished. He had asked for a rush delivery because he and Al were going to go try to get Ed's body back too. Again.

She turned the last screw and took off her goggles. "Ed!" she called, "You're arm's finished!" She heard the clutter of his metal foot on the staircase as he wobbled down the staircase into the basement. He was having trouble balancing because Winry had just taken his arm off a few hours ago.

"Ed? Are you alright? You were having trouble walk-"

"_Yes,_ Winry, I'm fine!" he snapped, clearly not in the mood to deal with her over-protectiveness, seeing as he needed to go back to Central for the National Alchemist's Assessment, which, like usual, he hadn't done anything for and was planning to make up something the sounded smart on the train. He sat down, and, afraid that she was going to cry, quickly smiled and asked her if she was alright.

She wanted to screamat the top of her lungs about how he and Al always left as soon as his automail was fixed, but, she took his short... er- _quick-_ temper into account and just looked at him, a blank expression on her face.

_Some sort of window to your right_

_As he goes left, and you stay right_

_Between the lines, of fear and blame_

_You begin to wonder why you came_

Later that same day, Winry stood up from the chair across from Ed and Al, keeping her opinions to herself about how often they read their alchemy books. She walked around the house with no clear direction until she found herself in Ed's room.

She noticed his silver watch sitting on the chair next to his bed. Feeling a wave of guilt surge over her, she recalled the time back in Rush Valley when she had forced open the watch, and Ed's reaction when she told him. She looked out the window in the direction of the remnants of the old Elric house. She felt a tear at her eye, but quickly brushed it away when she heard footsteps. She rushed over to his closet, afraid that he would be mad if he caught her in his room.

Ed said something to Al, who she assumed had just gone into his respective room when she heard the door close. Another door closed, but this time, the lock clicked. Winry couldn't help but to crack open the closet door to see what Ed was up to that he had to lock his door.

She caught a glimpse of him walking over to the dresser. '_Oh, great.' _she thought, _'He's changing. What should I do?!'_

She turned around and closed the door, but, perhaps a little too quickly and loudly. Ed turned around and walked towards his closet. The door opened, and his jaw hung open.

"_What are you doing in my room!?"_

Ed was standing there, his top off, and his hair down. He was clearly pissed off.

It was Winry's turn to hold a dropped jaw. Even though she had seen him with his top off plenty of times for automail surgery, for some reason, she felt like this was completely different. "Uhh... Hi, Ed!" were the only words she was able to manage.

Ed turned away and put his shirt back on. "Why are you here...?"

Winry pondered the question. Why was she here? She was wondering around the house, stopping in practically every room, but she couldn't comprehend why she felt the need to stay in _his_ room for so long.

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known, how to save a life_

"I... I guess I stopped in here because I'm mad."

"At who?" Ed asked inquisitively.

"_You,_ _idiot_!" Winry screamed, "_You're always leaving to go off to some distant place in an attempt to get your body back! I never even know if you're alive until you show up one day with a busted arm! Don't you understand that you're already perfect!?"_

Winry felt herself tearing. She wiped the droplets away from her piercing eyes, which were currently shooting daggers at Ed.

Ed felt a pang in his chest and he pulled her close. "Winry..." he whispered, "I'm sorry."

She stayed against his shoulder for a second, then pushed him away when she realized that she had just done both the things that she had sworn never to do within ten seconds. First, she told him that she hated it when he actually did his job, which she thought might be a rare occurrence unless Mustang threatened to court martial him. Secondly, while not direct, she had told him how she felt about him while he was still trying to accomplish his goals. She had made a pact with herself to never do this, in hopes of not hindering his progress or stopping it completely; She was fairly certain how he felt about her, although he was as blind as a bat.

"Well apparently I'm not so perfect if you're so mad at me!" Ed ranted. He put his shirt back on, unlocked the door, left, and purposefully slammed it as hard as he could without breaking it.

Winry didn't follow him. Instead, she recalled the night when they had burned down their house. October 3, 1911. She let tears drip down her face once more. They were so young when their mom had died, and only a little bit older when they took it upon themselves to leave home and accomplish their goals. But, there was nothing to hold them back, so they just kept walking forwards.

_Let him know that you know best_

_'Cause after all, you do know best_

_Try to slip past his defense_

_Without granting innocence_

After a few minutes of contemplation and reflection, Winry had decided. She was going to ask Edward to stay. No, she wasn't going to ask him. She was going to tell him. And if he continued with his quest, then it would be too late for him to come back next time. He was going to find himself another automail mechanic, and a new best friend to lean on when his brother just wasn't enough. She regained her composure and marched back downstairs.

"Ed?" she asked, looking around downstairs but not seeing him. She went back upstairs to look off the balcony, when she heard quiet voices from Al's room.

"Al," she heard, presumably Ed, "why do we continue to leave. I mean, we giving up a good chunk of our lives searching for answers that we may never find and all we're doing is hurting the people we care about. I feel horrible."

"Well, if you care about Winry so much, why don't you just purposefully fail the assessment? It's easier than going through the hassle of retiring. Unless you don't want to, of course..."

And there it was. Winry's best realization and worst fear confirmed. If Ed did care about her enough to quit his job, then she was overjoyed. But, on the other hand, giving up his job would mean giving up his quest to regain his limbs, which was something she certainly didn't want if he still wanted them. Suddenly she began to understand the meaning of 'Equivalent Exchange.'

"Thanks, Al." she heard Ed say when the door opened straight into her nose, which started bleeding immediately.

"Winry! Are you all right?" Ed exclaimed, "I'll go get a towel! Just lie down with your head up!"

Winry didn't comply and proceeded down the stairs, her footsteps intentionally loud to let him know she was there. She was fighting back tears from the pain, but she couldn't let herself shed a drop for her idea to continue as planned.

"I'm not a kid, Ed. I don't need _you_ to try to take care of me."

"Well I'm going to anyway, and I don't care what you say."

"You did a good job of taking care of Al after you burnt down your house."

Ed froze. He tensed, and then suddenly relaxed and hung his head. Sitting down on the couch next to Winry, he lifted his head once more and Winry saw something that she thought she may never see: Ed's eye was tearing. He certainly wasn't crying, no, he would _never_ do that, but his right eyelid was definitely wet.

_Lay down a list of what is wrong_

_The things you've told him all along_

_And pray to God he hears you_

_And pray to God he hears you_

"Winry... Why'd you say that? Do you really still care about that?" Ed joked. Winry could tell he didn't mean it.

"No, I just needed to get you focused and clear-minded. Listen. You burnt down your house because you needed to keep going forward. I get that. But why? Why don't you ever stay with Grandma and me? I keep telling you, but you never- you never listen..." Winry tensed and buried her head in his shoulder.

As much as she knew he didn't believe in God, and had even helped to overthrow an entire religion, she wished that whatever god was out there would make him stay.

_As he begins to raise his voice_

_You lower yours, grant him one last choice_

_Drive until you will lose the road_

_Or break with the ones you've followed_

"Winry!" he snapped, "You've never told me anything about this! You're always willing to let me go! Don't go getting mad at me when you've never even _asked_ me to stay!"

Winry looked up and moved back. In a quiet whisper, she pleaded, "Ed... I'm sorry. But I just... I just want you to stay and be happy, or keep going and come back more often. If you can't do those... I... I just don't know..." Then Winry cried.

_He will do one of two things_

_He will admit to everything_

_Or he'll say he's just not the same_

_And you'll begin to wonder why you came_

"I could... I could say that I need to keep going forwards," Ed said, "But I can't."

Winry stopped crying, and she looked back at him.

"I'm sorry... Winry... But please... Please let me stay..." Ed spoke normally, and then continued in a noticeably softer, kinder voice, "I need you..."

A smile of many emotions crept onto Winry's face. There was a bit of forgiveness, a hint of triumph, a good amount of happiness, but the prominent emotion was love. Ed smiled back, and they came to a silent agreement: Ed would be staying for a while.

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**So there it is. Let me know how it was =)**


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